PM/U4 Topic 3 Competency Mapping

Competency mappingidentifies an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. The aim is to enable the person to better understand himself or herself and to point out where career development efforts need to be directed.

Competencies are derived from specific job families within the organization and are often grouped around categories such as strategy, relationships, innovation, leadership, risk-taking, decision-making, emotional intelligence, etc.So far as the way to go about for competency mapping is concerned, the first step is job analysis, where the company needs to list core competency requirements for the job concerned. The next step should be development of a competency scale for the job on the parameters previously identified.

The actual mapping of employees can be a self-done exercise or done by others like superiors. It can also be done by using the 360-degree method where peers, first reports and customers also rate the employee.

The steps involved in competency mapping with an end result of job evaluation include the following:

(I) Conduct a job analysis by asking incumbents to complete a position information questionnaire (PIQ). The PIQ can be provided for incumbents to complete, or you can conduct one-on-one interviews using the PIQ as a guide. The primary goal is to gather from incumbents what they feel are the key behaviors necessary to perform their respective jobs.

(II) Using the results of the job analysis, you are ready to develop a competency based job description. This is developed by carefully analyzing the input from the represented group of incumbents and converting it to standard competencies.

(III)With a competency based job description, you are on your way to begin mapping the competencies throughout your HR processes. The competencies of the respective job description become your factors for assessment on the performance evaluation. Using competencies will help guide you to perform more objective evaluations based on displayed or not displayed behaviors.

(IV)Taking the competency mapping one step further, you can use the results of your evaluation to identify in what competencies individuals need additional development or training. This will help you focus your training needs on the goals of the position and company and help your employees develop toward the ultimate success of the organization.